TWO DECADES OF PRE-PANDEMIC
PROGRESS LOST FOR N.C.
BLACK STUDENTS ON THE NAEP
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
While academic gains for many North Carolina fourth and eighth graders dropped substantially in the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the figures for Black students are far worse.
The NAEP is given every two years nationally to measure academic progress in math and reading for some fourth and eighth graders. Released Monday by the U.S. Dept. of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics , the NAEP scores this year show North Carolina students’ scores are the lowest they’ve been since the late 1990’s.
The NAEP was postponed in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, so this year’s results measure the lack of achievement post pandemic.
“The results for North Carolina are the latest evidence of significant learning loss during the protracted pandemic, which forced schools to transition to remote instruction beginning in March 2020, with many schools across the state suspending in-person classroom learning through much of the 2020-21 school year,” stated NC Schools Supt. Catherine Truitt in a press release.
In North Carolina, fourth-grade math scores dropped five points to it’s year 2000 level. Eighth-grade math scores dropped a whopping 10 points, the lowest they been since 1996.
The story is no better for the state’s reading average. Fourth-graders dropped five points, the eighth-grade drop, six points.
None of the above speaks well of how North Carolina’s Black students on the latest NAEP reading and math tests. In fact, experts say, the results show a clear widening of the racial achievement gap.
In reading, Black fourth-grade students dropped an average of 10 points since 2019, sliding them down to their lowest levels since 1998.
White forth-graders only dropped three points. That means the gap in reading between white and Black students is back at the 1998 level of 30 points.
In math, white fourth-graders dropped six points, while Black fourth-graders dropped eight. This contributed to a 27-point gap, wider than the 20 point gap of 2000.
“We have made strategic investments to try to address these concerns, including providing professional development for 44,000 elementary school educators in the science of reading. We’ve also identified targeted interventions to address learning loss specific to transitioning students – those moving from elementary to middle school or middle to high school,” said Truitt.
Nationally, fourth-grade math scores have dropped five points since 2019, to the lowest they’ve been since 2003. Math scores for eighth graders are worse, dropping eight points, the lowest since 2000.
In reading, the average scores for both fourth and eighth graders dropped three points, the lowest for fourth graders since 1998, and eighth graders since 1992.
-30-
EARLY VOTING OFF
TO A STRONG START
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Voting in the 2022 midterm elections is underway, with the North Carolina State Board of Elections reporting that on the first day of One Stop-Early Voting, 135,391 in-person votes were tabulated statewide out of 7,411,691 registered and eligible voters. That’s very close to the 136,500 that were cast on the first day of early voting for midterms 2018.
Add civilian, military and oversea balloting to the number, and it stretches to 186,881.
Based on the number, Democrats cast more early vote than Republicans, 78,191 to 53, 388. Unaffiliateds cast 54,957. By race, white NC voters cast 138,144, while Black voters cast 33,736. Other ethnicities cast 15, 001 votes on the first day of voting.
Blacks are over 20% of North Carolina voters registered.
Female voters comprised 95,108 of the vote, compared to males at 84,835, and undesignated at 6,938.
Females are over 50% of North Carolina voters registered.
The second day of One Stop-Early voting, Friday, Oct. 21, saw a big increase in in-person activity at the polls with 268, 081. That was over 7,000 more than 2018’s 260,701.
On that Oct. 21 early vote, Democrats statewide continued to outpace Republican and unaffiliated voters, whites over Blacks and other, and female over males and undesignated.
Saturday, Oct. 22 saw the same pattern, but with a larger in-person voter turnout at 302,890.
On Sunday, Oct. 23rd, where the in-person early voting didn’t begin until 1 p.m., and ended at 5 p.m., that number totaled 323,616, with Democrats maintaining the lead of votes cast, fueled by Black and female turnouts.
One Stop Early Voting-same Day Registration is from now until Saturday November 5th.
In the midst of the strong early voting balloting, the NC State Elections Board (NCSBE) is warning of those trying to cause confusion and spread disinformation. Many voters are apparently receiving official looking mailers claiming that they may or may not have voted in recent elections, and make inaccurate claims about their voting records. NCSBE advises calling your local county elections board office if you receive such a mailer and believe it to be wrong. Don’t let it discourage you from casting your ballot for this midterm election.
In the race for U.S. Senate from North Carolina, Republican Ted Budd has reportedly opened as much as a six-point lead over Democrat Cheri Beasley, using the poor state of the economy as a bludgeon over abortion politics. Beasley maintains that if Budd is elected, a woman’s right to choose is at risk. National figures from both parties have come to the state to campaign for Beasley and Budd. Former President Barack Obama endorsed Beasley on Tuesday.
And on Friday, Oct. 28th, the North Carolina Young People’s Alliance will host a Democracy Day demonstration at 12 noon in front of the UNC-Chapel Hill Davis Library to demand the establishment of a formal “Democracy Day” Holiday at the university.
-30-
COLUMBUS COUNTY SHERIFF JODY GREENE
CAN COLUMBUS COUNTY
RESIGNED SHERIFF GREENE
BE RE-ELECTED ON NOV. 8TH?
By Cash Michaels
The answer is yes, yes former Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene can be reelected as he shrewdly resigned from office Monday before a Columbus County Superior Court judge threw the book at him for a whole host of alleged misdeeds while in office, include calling Blacks who worked for his department “snakes” and “bastards,” promising to fire them all.
Those remarks were recorded by a former captain with the sheriff’s department, and recently broadcast by WECT-TV.
But during the short time that Columbus County District Attorney Jonathan David suspended him on Oct. 4th for racist comments he made in a February 2019 recording about Black employees who reportedly supported his opponent, Greene has been campaigning for reelection, like participating in the North Carolina Yam Festival with campaign signs on the side of a Black Mercedes SUV for example.
With his name still on the ballot, if Greene, a Republican, wins reelection, it will be up to D.A. David to go back to court with evidence of criminal obstruction of justice, malicious arrests, misconduct in office, intimidating county commissioners and sexual harassment.
In addition, as the Black Press reported last week, the NC NAACP, the Columbus County NAACP and the progressive Durham-based legal firm Forward Justice have asked the U.S. Justice Dept. in an Oct. 15th letter to investigate Greene for his alleged racial statements, to deploy federal election monitors to Columbus County during the early voting period and on Election Day, and to “Hold a listening session with community members in Columbus County to determine other civil rights violations and community needs that the Department of Justice has the authority to provide a path to redress.”
That letter also alleges that there is a connection between Sheriff Greene and the OathKeepers, the white supremacist group known known for their participation in the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capital, and subsequent appearances at school board and other local government meetings in Southeastern North Carolina. The NC NAACP letter maintains that Black voters may be subject to intimidation from the OathKeepers on Sheriff Greene’s behalf.
Both the NC NAACP and the Columbus County NAACP have pushed to have voters prevent Greene from being reelected on November 8th.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment